Kayla Edwards
Today we started class by looking at “The Valley of the Yosemite” 1864 by Albert Bierstadt. This is a painting of Yosemite Valley, one of the first national parks in California. In mid 19th century there was the California Gold Rush so people rushed there and they made a national park. You can see the romanticism through the warm colors and the way they reflect off the water. This painting shows the romantic element of shunning the artificiality of civilization and seeking unspoiled nature because there are no buildings or people or civilization, it is only nature. Also the calmness of the water brings in animals creating beauty and nature to it. Also the very large rocks show the romantic  element of contemplating nature’s beauty as a path to spiritual and moral development because they make you realize how small you are in the world. Next we read “Rip Van Winkle” by  Diedrich Knickerbocker (Washington Irving) and found each element within it. What is interesting about this text is that Diedrich Knickerbocker is a fake person whom Irving created to narrate his stories. This was probably to give the stories authenticity because they were about early Dutch settlers. The main purpose of today's class was to practice identifying the elements of romanticism in writings and paintings. This skill is important because it can help us understand the author's purpose. As previously discussed in class, history is reflected through writing, and there is a constant swing between romanticism and rationalism so by reading a text from a certain year, and finding more romantic elements, we will know that during this period people were in a more romantic state rather than rational state.
Here is Bierstadt's "Valley of the Yosemite"